


The Stupidest Genius I've Ever Met

by HesitantlyHipsterAlien



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Angst, Bisexual! Riley, Claustrophobia, Divorce, Domestic arguments, F/F, Farkle has been keeping a lot of secrets, Fluff, Gay! Farkle, Lesbian! Maya, M/M, Pansexual! Zay, Pining, Questioning! Lucas, slightly AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-14 02:06:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 4,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11198184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HesitantlyHipsterAlien/pseuds/HesitantlyHipsterAlien
Summary: Farkle had grown used to feeling lonely in his own home. His parents were barely there and when they were there, there was only fighting and misery. But what Farkle wasn't prepared for was how painfully lonely the summer before his freshman year of high school would make him.Farkle needs help, but he doesn't know how to ask for it.





	1. Bottle Your Feelings so You Don't Have to be Alone

Sun light trickles across his face from the window, jabbing at his closed eyelids, waking him long before the alarm is supposed to. Grimacing, he slides his eyes open. His cellphone rests on the pillow beside him, still locked on the text from the night before. He grabs it, running his thumb along the metal studded black cases, as he rereads the thread of conversation in the group chat.

"Can't wait to see everyone down here!" The text from Zay says. It was the end to a conversation about everyone meeting up in Texas to catch up before they have to go back to school. Farkle of course has agreed to go- after the summer he's had, he wants nothing more than to talk to his friends- but he's surprised that Riley and Maya have agreed to go too. 

Because he's tried to text, call, IM and visit them both repeatedly over the summer and has either been 'missed' or 'ignored' or told that the girls were busy by their parents. The first few times he'd ignored it, but now it feels very much like they've purposely avoided him.

Naturally, he's stung by that.

Sitting up, Farkle stares at his cell, feeling a turmoil of emotions swirl around in his head. Anger, hurt, need, loneliness. At one time in his life, he would have been overwhelmed by it all, maybe even cried.

But since his parents divorce, he's been different.

It started at the beginning of summer with the arguing. He'd hear them early in the morning, shouting obscenities and threats at each other, and he'd stay in bed until they'd both go to work.

The third time it happened, he'd called both Riley and Maya with no answer, and when a call to Lucas yielded that he was out helping his grandfather with Zay, he'd given up and sobbed alone in his room. By the seventh time that it had happened, he just ignored it and went about his morning, getting dressed, sneaking around them to grab breakfast, and then heading out to wander the city by himself for a few hours.

Then the divorce happened: which was a relief and a nightmare all in itself.

It was a relief because it meant that the fighting would stop. But it was a nightmare because both parents loved him and both wanted him to stay with them permanently. The court battle lasted almost a full month, and in the end, his mom won full custody, as well as their loft in NYC. She'd made a case that her son shouldn't have to move away from the friends he'd grown up with.

The same friends Farkle spent the entire divorce cut off from.

And now he'll face them, changed as he is. He wonders if they'll notice. And, because of Riley and Maya's distance... he wonders if they will even care.

Forcing himself from the bed, he dresses and grabs his packed bag. He has to get on a plane to Texas soon, and he doesn't want to be late. Stuffing his cell in his pocket, he stares at his reflection for a moment.

He looks broken and angry. Forcing those emotions back, he pulls on a facade of his usual, cheerful self, plastering on a fake smile and trying to push the pain down until the only place it might show is in his eyes. Maybe he can hide it all. Pretend everything is fine.

It seems that's what people want.


	2. Out of the Nightmare and into Day's Harsh Reality

On the plane, he sleeps, his head pillowed on the window. Even though he only woke a couple hours ago, sleeping makes the trip pass faster. And as he sleeps, he falls back into a nightmare that has been haunting him since his parents first started fighting.

This time, he 'awakes', so to speak, at 4:17 a.m. The time in the dream is always different. The argument he hears, however, remains the same. Loud voices from the kitchen, echoing up the hallways and right into Farkle's room. An argument so much like the reality of his summer that it makes him cringe. Life imitates art, he supposes, and nightmares imitate life.

"We shouldn't keep leaving him alone-" his mother starts.

"Rubbish," His father retorts coolly. "He's a Minkus. We don't need all those useless things like emotions and support. We do just fine without them."

"Farkle isn't like you!" His mother argues, defensive. "He's shy, and sweet, and sensitive, and-"

"Pathetic," His father spits.

At this point, Farkle clenches his eyes shut. Some unseen force in the dream keeps him from leaving the bed. He covers his ears, trying to block out the shouting.

And then it gets louder. 

Suddenly, he's standing in between them, literally invisible as they shout at each other. Somehow all the little things he's insecure about come up- like his being so claustrophobic they had to take down the sliding glass door on his shower and put up a tacky curtain, or how he's had nightmares pretty much all his life and sometimes still cries out for his mom, or how when his friends were all fighting and he was avoiding them out of spite, he'd spend the whole time sulking in his room- and these things are used in a 'sensitive v.s. weak' argument.

The dream has just gotten to this point when Farkle wakes with a start to the sensation of a hand on his shoulder.

"Sir, we're getting ready to land," It's the stewardess on his parents'- er, his mother's- private plane, a tall, slender blonde thirty year old woman named Gina Flintlock. He'd asked her to wake him when they reached Texas.

Nodding and running a hand through his feathery brown locks, Farkle speaks. "Thanks Gina...guess I was a little more tired than I thought."

Gina nods some, handing him a travel cup. "I made black tea, just the way you like it. Should wake you up before you see your friends."

Taking it, he smiles and nods to her. She turns to leave, pausing at the entrance to the cockpit.

"Sir?"

"Yes, Gina?"

"I'm sorry...about the divorce..."

"Don't be, Gina, it wasn't your fault," Farkle replies, offering the faintest ghost of a smile as he puts on his seat belt and prepares for the plane to land. Gina simply nods, her honeyed curls bobbing with the movement, before disappearing into the cockpit. In the emptiness of the room, Farkle adds:

"If anything, it was mine..."


	3. Doubts

Out the window, as the plane makes it's descent towards the landing strip, Farkle spots a familiar crowd of four over by one of the luggage carriers. Maya and Riley took a bus up the day before and apparently already met up with Lucas and Zay.

They all wave and Riley starts jumping up and down as the plane gets close. This makes him smile, and he waves back, the sight of his friends making him instantaneously happy. After a moment though, his smile falters, as a small voice prickles into the back of his mind, offering up a thought he'd been trying to suppress.

The girls left him basically on his own all summer. And now they're waving and smiling as if all's well and good. As if they didn't- even if accidentally- shut him out, ostracizing the boy they'd been friends with since the first grade. All at once, the feelings he's been trying to mask with a smile hit him again, full force, crushing out his confidence. 

Slowly, he lowers his hand, leaning back into the seat and away from the window. For a moment, he dwells on his thoughts.

'Maybe they're pretending to be happy I'm here...'

'Maybe no one wanted me to come...'

'Maybe this was a bad idea...'

An ache that, before his parents divorce, would have brought tears springing to his eyes, fills his chest as he stares at the closed door to the cockpit. With his luck, his friends really are sick of him, and this last little get together before the summer's out will be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back. Just like that, in one summer, he'll lose his innocence, his family, and his friends, and he'll enter the new school year alone. At least then he'll be able to prepared. It'll give him a chance to switch to private school last minute, where he'll in the very least actually be challenged in his classes rather than just excelling.

The slight jolt of the plane's wheels connecting with the tarmac snaps him back to reality. Shaking his head, Farkle unfastens his seat belt as the plane rolls to a stop. Once the plane halts completely, he stands, grabbing his duffel off the seat next to him, tea in hand.

Trudging to the exit, he pauses, hand hovering over the button to let Stan, the pilot, know he's ready to get out. Exhaling audibly, he pulls back on his usual, cheerful, 'everything's good' grin.

"You'll feel better once you talk to them, trust me."

Gina's voice makes him jump. Glancing back to the blue eyed woman, he nods softly, a smile pulling at his lips.

"I hope so...thanks, Gina." 

With that, he presses the button, holding his smile as the door's hydraulic's kick in and it slowly opens. Readjusting his duffel bag strap, he steps into the light of the world, wincing a little at the sudden brightness.


	4. The Sweet Half of a Bittersweet Reunion

Seeing Farkle get off the plane, Lucas' heart skips an anxious beat.

Black beanie, black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, dark blue skinny jeans, and black converse. Its like a flashback to the 'Donnie Barnes: Regular Guy' phase Farkle went through, when a silly superlative made him question his comfort levels of being himself. Lucas just knows it means that something is really wrong. 

Farkle steps down, pausing a foot away from the group, his eyes searching their expressions. He's smiling, but there's something else lying beneath. A sort of...discomfort and sadness underlying the cheerful expression Farkle's face holds. Its something Lucas isn't used to seeing in the normally happy-go-lucky scientist.

Stepping forward, he yanks the smaller boy into a hug, heart thudding hard as panicked thoughts over what that expression could mean swarm through his brain. There's a momentary pause before the other's join, but as soon as they do, the group hug becomes laughter and playful protests.

"Easy! You guys'll make me spill my tea!" Farkle protests, the smile evident in his voice.

"Oww Huckleberry, that was my foot!" Maya interjects.

"Well why are you behind me?" Lucas asks, pausing only a second before the statement when Farkle's free hand grabs onto a fistful of his shirt.

"Riley, quit shoving, you'll knock us all over!" Zay shouts over the commotion.

"I'm not shoving! All of you are pulling m- ahh!"

Tea splatters out onto the grass. Maya's head clunks into the back of Lucas'. Riley elbows Zay in the face. The quintet land in a sprawl of tangled limbs. And somehow, Farkle ends up on top of Lucas.

Wincing, Lucas looks around at the group. Maya is laughing. So is Riley. Zay is cradling his injured face. Then his gaze comes back to Farkle.

The wide eyed brunette's face is only inches from his, an expression that's a mix of surprise and amusement plastered over it. After a pause of mere seconds that for some reason feels like an eternity of Lucas lost and floating in the smaller male's blue eyes, Farkle speaks.

"Hi..."

"Hey," Oh shit, not this again.

Farkle grins. 

"Geez, you freak, how can you look so perfect even when everyone just fell on you?" Farkle retorts, smirking to show that this display is playful jealousy. Its something he's been doing since they met.

And fuck if it doesn't make Lucas feel all sorts of things he does not want to admit he's feeling for his best friend.

"Its a curse, I know," Lucas replies, trying not to sound breathless. "Mind getting off me so I can get up? The puddle of tea is kinda getting close to my head."

This request seems to remind Farkle where he is. Standing up quickly, the genius mutters a soft spoken apology, offering the cowboy a hand. For a moment, Lucas could almost swear Farkle is blushing.

'Worry about that later,' Lucas mentally scolds himself, escaping that thought. 'Let him help you up before you get covered in tea.'

Taking Farkle's hand, Lucas stands, and once more they're only inches apart. He falls right back into those big blue eyes, trying again to decode the sadness that seems to have filled them for some unexplained reason.


	5. The Bitter Half of a Bittersweet Reunion

Flames crackle in the fire pit as the group sits on logs and crates placed around it. 

The last time they were here, Farkle remembers, Riley and Maya were fighting over Lucas. Now, it seems the girls are closer than ever- so close that when Maya drips some chocolate from her s'more on her chin, Riley licks it off her. Its clear the two discovered something new of their own this summer. 

Farkle glances from the girls to Lucas, tilting his head. He half expected jealousy from the cowboy, but instead, all he sees is a proud smile on his face.

"So...Me and Lucas spent all summer working, which was exhausting, but actually kind of rewarding, and clearly you two are way closer than before," Zay says, motioning to Riley and Maya. Riley giggles shyly. Maya just shrugs. Then Zay looks through the flames directly at Farkle. "What about you?"

Farkle jumps a little. "What do you mean?"

"What happened over your summer?"

And there it is. 

There's the question Farkle's dreaded all day. He looks down at the s'more in his hand, suddenly having no desire to eat it. These are his friends. He should feel safe confiding in them, right? They're the ones who've always been there for him.

Except for when they weren't. 

"...my summer was fine."

Everyone is looking at him, and none of them believe him, he knows. But suddenly, all the anger and hurt and loneliness he's been trying to bottle feels like its clawing at his insides and he can't take it anymore.

"Farkle?" Maya leans forward, trying to meet his eyes, using that same 'I know you' tone she always has when he or Riley started acting off. But she doesn't know him, not this him, and that stings more than any of the thoughts insecurity has been peppering him with since he woke up this morning. "What happened? You can talk to us..."

"Can I really?" Farkle blurts out. "Or are you just saying that because you feel obligated to?"

"Farkle...?" This is Riley. Farkle stands, feeling a faintly familiar sting in his eyes as he holds up a hand to stop her. 

"I get it. You and Maya discovered you two are in love. I'm happy for you, really." He says, unsurprised when he can feel the tears spilling over. "But it wouldn't have killed you to answer the phone just once! I needed you and none of you could be bothered to even pick up what would have been a two minute phone call!" 

"Farkle, calm down," Zay says, standing, his town soothing. Farkle just shakes his head. 

"Forget it," He mutters. And then he turns and takes off down the path. Normally he's not one for throwing melodramatic fits, but in this moment he can't stand to look at the people who are supposed to be his friends. The ones who betrayed him, who abandoned him. The ones who conveniently weren't there the whole summer long.

"Farkle!" The last voice is Lucas, who sounds more shocked and concerned than anything else.


	6. Unscrewing the Bottle Cap

Farkle is hiding in the barn when Lucas finds him. He's curled into one corner of the hay loft, face buried in his hands. Lucas has never seen Farkle that angry. Or hurt. He's worried to say the least.

Silently climbing up the ladder, he crawls until he's right in front of Farkle. The brunette doesn't look up. Sighing, Lucas speaks.

"Something big happened this summer, yeah?"

After a moment, Farkle nods.

"And all of us ignored you, even though we didn't mean to, and you're mad about that?"

"I'm not mad, I'm just-" Farkle sighs. "It felt an awful lot like all of you were just shutting me out completely, and with my parents fighting-"

"Your parents have been fighting?" Lucas can't help but sound shocked. Farkle nods.

"They were...they've split now."

"Farkle, oh my god..." 

Lucas pulled Farkle into a hug, pressing his face into the smaller male's hair. No phrase had ever made him feel so guilty before.

"I'm so sorry, bud, if I'd known-"

"You didn't..." Farkle says, his arms around Lucas' neck. "None of you did...and I kept trying to call...but you and Zay were working, and Riley and Maya-"

"We had no excuse." 

Maya's voice makes them both jump. She, Riley, and Zay crawl up the ladder and circle around the two, all looking as guilty as Lucas feels. Riley is crying.

"Farkle, we didn't mean to shut you out, we-"

"Its okay..."

Farkle shifts so that he can face the whole group, releasing Lucas, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "I shouldn't have yelled at you guys...I was just hurt...and after everything this summer, it felt like the group didn't care anymore and I..." He trails off, exhaling shakily. "This summer just really sucked..."

Without another word, he hugs Riley, who starts to cry again. Maya is crying too, as she joins in. Lucas and Zay join at the same time, both fighting their own tears. 

Lucas knows this summer changed a lot of things for their group. But more than anything, he's worried about Farkle. He just wants him to be okay.


	7. How to Deal with Emotional Aftermath - Movie Night

"Anyone up for a movie?" Zay asks as they all gather in one of the larger bedrooms of the house. "Or are we all too tired?"

At first the group just look at each other, all still readjusting now that the emotional uproar has calmed down. 

"...I wouldn't mind staying up," Farkle says after a minute. He hasn't told them about the nightmares yet. The divorce was enough of a bomb drop in itself. And with luck, he might not even have one tonight. 

"I love movies," Riley says. Maya grins at this, watching the other girl with an adoring expression, her arms around the brunette's waist.

"...didn't we get Final Destination?" Lucas interjects from where he stands- noticeably close to Farkle, Zay notes- his tone lightly concerned. "Maybe a horror movie isn't such a good idea..."

"Horror movies aren't as scary when you're with friends," Riley objects. Maya gently nudges her.

"Riles, you called Bambi a horror movie..."

"His mom got murdered Maya, that was an incredibly traumatizing thing to see as an impressionable child."

"...I actually like the Final Destination movies," Farkle chimes in, having spent most of this time just watching the conversation around him. He doesn't really- he's seen them all and frankly the first one made plane rides traumatizing for like a month afterwards, while the third is still the reason he can't ride roller coasters- but he also figures if he does have another nightmare again tonight, he can lie and blame it on the horror movie.

Lucas opens his mouth to argue when Zay grins. 

"Its settled then, we end the night with a movie," He says, almost triumphant as he looks to Lucas. The beautiful blonde simply sighs. He knows this will not end well in any sense of the word.

But, Riley is on board and Farkle seems to be, which is really odd. He could have swore that in one of their many late night text conversations- Lucas sometimes has trouble sleeping with the city being so loud and Farkle is a bit of a night owl- that Farkle said the only horror he likes is musical horror, and even then that's sometimes too much. 

Maybe he remembered wrong. Though really, he doubts it.


	8. The First of Many Bad Ideas

"This was such a bad idea," Riley whimpers, burrowing her face in Maya's shoulder. On screen, Alex, the main character of the first final destination, is being drowned by a tree- most of the gruesome deaths are over with now anyway- and Lucas can't help but agree with her. And outside, a rare Texas thunderstorm rages on, filling the room with a tense, horror movie ambiance.

He's flinched at least three times. Maya, who swears like a trucker when startled, has said things that Lucas has only ever heard his father say when at home repairs go horribly wrong. Her vocabulary is impressive. Zay has been hiding behind a throw pillow that was on the couch. And then there's Farkle, who's been relatively silent, aside from small, sharp gasps every once in a while, though he is tense and looks concerningly pale beside Lucas. 

Maybe he wasn't wrong after all.

"Its almost over," Maya soothes. She's about to say more when the outside storm thunders once again. A bright flash fills the room through the windows, and just as suddenly as the lightning itself, the power winks out.

Riley starts crying, Maya comforting her while simultaneously standing and pulling her into the other room, using the light from her phone to guide them. Zay speaks in the darkness after a minute. 

"I ummm....I'm gonna go make sure they make it to their room," He says. He sounds terrified, something Lucas learned to pick up on years ago, and in reality is probably going to go curl up in his bed and play on his phone until he passes out; its just what he does.

"Alright," Lucas says. Once Zay is gone, he gently lowers his arm around Farkle's shoulders. "You okay, bud?"

For a moment, Farkle says nothing. Then he shifts to bury his face in the crook of Lucas' neck, shaking his head. His entire tiny, slender form is trembling. Lucas gently pulls him closer.

"I hate horror movies."

"I know, I remembered. Did you forget?"

"...maybe a little."

"...Were you doing that thing where you try to be braver than you are to impress the rest of us?"

"............maybe."

Lucas just nods, fighting to hide the amusement on his face. He understands. Hell he's done the same thing from time to time. And he knows Farkle knows he doesn't have to do that. So he doesn't say it. He just sits there in the dark with Farkle in his arms.


	9. A Peaceful Morning, Finally

In the morning, Farkle wakes- to the sounds of birds outside chirping and the outside world dripping dry- buried in Lucas' arms. 

Its the first truly peaceful morning Farkle's had in months, but truth be told, he'd enjoy it more if they weren't in such an awkward tangled position on the couch. His shoulders throb from sitting the wrong way for most of the night. Wincing, he carefully untangles himself from the taller boy, gripping his aching arm.

"Sleeping on the couch was also a bad idea," Lucas says as if to add on to Riley's statement about the horror movie last night. Farkle glances over at Lucas, who is in the process of stretching his back, smiling slightly.

"No kidding," He teases, standing after a second. "You gonna be able to stand?"

"Good question," Lucas laughs. Carefully, he does stand with only a slight wince. "What time is it?"

"Uhh..." Farkle produces his phone from a back pocket, which is still at twenty-six percent, impressively enough. "6:13 a.m."

"Jeez," Lucas yawns. "Wanna retreat to my room until everyone wakes up?"

Farkle freezes for a moment. Him and Lucas. Alone in Lucas' room. He looks away for a moment in case he's blushing, feigning an attempt to crack his back. 

"Yeah, okay..." 

With that, he follows Lucas to his room, wondering for a moment why his heart is beating so hard.

Lucas' room is very much how Farkle remembered it from last year when they visited. His bull riding trophy rests atop the dresser, along with some baseball awards, and a framed photo of all of them at the steakhouse they went to afterwards. Farkle smiles, noting the room is also kept just as neat as Lucas' room back home in New York.

"I thought your mom was the only reason your room was so neat, did she follow you up here?" Farkle teases, Lucas smirks, flopping onto the bed and motioning for Farkle to join him.

"Nope," Lucas says as Farkle lays beside him. "But my gram likes a neat, presentable home, so if I don't clean in here, she does. And she's eighty. Letting her clean up after me feels unbelievably cruel."

Farkle nods. He never let anyone clean up after him. Though...he also never really spent enough time in his room to make a mess of it. When you grow up with everything, it kind of all becomes meaningless garbage after a while. Hence why he never invited his friends over to his house before that time when there was a problem with Maya's house. He was afraid either a) they'd all decide they liked his stuff better than they liked him, or b) their opinions of him would change and they wouldn't want to be his friends anymore.

The soft sound of snoring pulls Farkle from his thoughts. He glances over and muffles a laugh as he realizes that Lucas is out cold again. Smiling to himself, Farkle lays beside the sleeping boy- unable to fall back asleep himself- listening to the sounds of a finally peaceful morning.


	10. Subtle Changes

Days later, the quintet are back in NYC.

Its early morning, their first day of high school, first day back in Mr. Matthews class. A first of a great number of things. Farkle would be lying if he said he wasn't anxious about how today is going to go.

He waits by the flag pole for his friends to arrive, the first at the school. At least some things didn't change after this summer. As he scans the entering crowds, he sees Smackle. The girl he dated only last year. He waves, she waves back, taking her new significant other's hand as the two of them trail into the school. Aesthetically, they make a good couple, Farkle must admit.

Things between him and Smackle actually ended peacefully. They'd spent a whole day together, when she turned to him and asked him a somewhat strange question.

"Farkle," She'd started. "When you kiss me, do you... feel anything?"

"What do you mean? I feel our lips touching?"

"I meant like... fireworks? Or tingliness? Anything?"

"...no, I don't."

From that Smackle had nodded and explained to him that she felt their relationship may have been fabricated on their similarities personality wise and peer pressure, and that, if it was okay with him, she thought they should try seeing other people. If after a few months, they still had each other in their thoughts and were miserable in their new endeavors, they'd try being a couple again. It had sounded reasonable, so Farkle agreed.

And after a few months, Smackle found someone who made her feel 'tingliness' and Farkle was preoccupied with trying to survive his parents divorce.

"It doesn't bug you even a little bit seeing her with somebody else?" Glancing up at the voice, Farkle grins at Zay.

"Why would it? Its not like I have any say in who she dates, and she's happy. Even if I wasn't happy, its not her problem."

Zay stares at Farkle for a moment before shaking his head. "Y'know for someone who knew nothing about relationships until last year, you understand how they should work way better than most of us do."

Farkle just shrugs, figuring he'll take the compliment. A comfortable silence falls between him and Zay as they wait for the others.


End file.
